A Free Day

Added
15 Apr 2015

We are at the Damara Mopane Lodge and it is a free day. We know it doesn’t seem possible but there’s no early start today! Breakfast is at your leisure and you can do your own thing all day, although we do have an optional half-day morning tour.

We gather at 10am and August drives us towards the Ugab Terraces. Formed by river flows and tectonic uplift millions of years ago, the geological formations look rather like a mini Monument Valley in the USA. And you can see across the plains for miles and miles. We stop to admire the views and take some photos. A little further on we can clearly see Vingerklip, a 30-metre high “finger of rock” that has survived the erosion over many years. To be honest it looks as though it might topple at any moment and the pathway to the base is not kept well so we do not get too close.

On the way home we select a suitably impressive termite mound and our guide Uanee gives us a comprehensive lecture about the life and times of the Namibian termite! It is a lot more interesting than you think, especially considering Uanee is balancing on the side of the termite mound throughout.

It is now midday and getting hot so we retreat to Mopane Lodge to chill out. After a round of lunch time snacks, guests go walking, bird watching, swimming or simply read a book underneath a Mopane Tree. It doesn’t get much better than this!